Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-06-13


'Ez To iHCm snakes,' continued the
Old Settler after cause. KNOWN the
Sugar Swamp deestric' ez well ez do, |
should .ly ;ht Jake Pinbiddle Ilu-t ha'
ben short . ,umpin to do TO go am' make
talk u,S srt,h i inSiguif cant ind a.
snakes ~ that ,Jce-whizz, Wen were
"A boy, al lived in thai deestric', | didn' [
think nouhiu . -oiu' out au'-hut.
pshaw' WAITS the Use q talkinf Tn
hain't no snal.'S no more.
oh, yes there is, grandpop' said little
Peleg. Me an Bill simmons seen three
great big ones down long the creek yes
terday, and Bill says he knows where
there's heap of EN-"
He does. hay" replied Peleg's grand
father. with a touch Of sarcasm i'll his
tone Wall, does he happen to know
whar he kin clap his eyes on drill tailed
egg splitter Did Bill Simmons mention
anything bout no count sarpints o. that
name in that C lection o his'n:'
''N-nu," said Peleg, opening his eyes
wide He Iii Int say anything about it.,
but he says he knows a snake that milks
cows and carries the milk in a bag that
hangs from his neck and takes it around
and peddles it to other snakes that like
milk but can't milk cows. Bits going to
show me that snake some day"
This seemed to stagger Old Settler for a
moment, and he looked uneasy. But he
recovered himself and said:
bill knows whar thuz one o them
baggy necked milk peddlers, does he;
Wall. Bills an obsarvin' boy. but I'm
afeerd he's folierin' .pooty clus in his
daddy'S footsteps. an the fust thing he
knows he'll l'arn To lie. His daddy, OIL
Jake Simmons, fit shy o the truth till his
dyin' day
But them drill tail egg spitters, they
was sarpint th't Sugar Swamp deestric'
were proud on " en- | We're Il boy. They
was toll able curious snake, an | don [
see wat people could ha' ben thinkin' on
TO let their breed die out. cause they was
useful part o uat r,.l hist'ry sixty year
ago. But 'tain't likely thuz ez much ez
dried skin o one left in the hull dees-
tric'
The drill tailed egg splitter didn't brag
much on his height, but wen il come
down TO heft lie alluz ockypied front
seat at the show. That is, Specially the
he male These snakes was fixed mp 10y
uatur' in curious wsy. ie know, Pele-.
th't in the honey bee family thur the
queen, the drune an the worker bee. Now
these drill tail egg spitters was Gu: out 10y
natur' in pooty much the same way, 'Ccpt
th't they didn't hev no drone. Not
much they didn't They had ;he he
male. the she male and the worker. The
he male had the drill tail. the she male
had the egg splitter an the worker he
jist worked To make this int restin
lectrT' in nat'ral hist t'ry plain an simple,
I'll call the he felier the drill snake, the
she I'm the splitter snake, an the worker Il
come under his proper name q worker
snake.
The drill snake. Peleg. were not over
two foot long. He were two inches an a
half through. an the same size all the
way down. like round stick of wood
The head were bout the shape of an Ol
fashioned fiat turnip, an weighed two
POM In the middle o the tail end
which We're cut square off, just like II
round stick - wood is sawed of. III were
fitted a drill, mebby six or seven inches
long, an an inch thick where il We're
fastened to the snake. an tapered off 10 II
tolahle sharp pint. Six inches or 50 of
the tail end % the snake We're got up on
the plan . one o these twisted springs
that ye kin push way down ez flat ez Il
sasser, almost, hut witch jumps up ag'n
quicker'n powder flash wen ye let go Of
it The drill snake were about the color
of a jO-year-ol barn ez hadn't never been
painted. so We kin see, Peleg. that this
sarpint want ez pooty eZ a pictur' book,
but he didn't travel on his beauty no
morn he did on his height. Wat he
Dragged about We're his uncommon git up
an git. =,
The splitter snake didn't seem to hev
many p'tiC'lar p'ints bout her ez fur ez
We could see. 'cept th't she were jist ez
purity ez her oil man We're humly. But
her innard arrangements was little diff
fer nj from them o any other sarpint eZ
had managed to 'scape from the ark with
Noar, for Std o layin' her eggs like com
mon Ordinarv snakes does, she fetched EN-
up like "a COW does her Cud, an spit 'em
out Then wen she Travelled she alluZ
got herself up in the shape Of letter S.
an went sailin' along ez pooty ez a swan
a swimmin'. an kinder putin We in mind
q one. too.
The worker snake a. this curious sar-
pint family were dandy Pcleg. only
visit Id a thort fur enough ahead wen
were a bO, an Id a KEEP II speCiment o.
this snake jiSt to show To you, so We could
see " at funny things natur usety do th't
she dom seem To care durn bout doin'
now adays. It'd a pleased yc, know, an
I'm cOnsarned sorry. Wall, the worker
snake were n dandy. 1t We're built Oh
the plan of a shingle ez 10 thickness, but
lis tail were roundin', like an cells. The
worker snake We're properly six inches
wide, fiat an smooth on top, but rOundin'
on the bottom. Wen it Travelled it didn't
wiggls itself along with sideways wiggle
like other snakes, but got over the ground
by an up an down kickin' of itself th't
were amaAn TO see. The worker We're
nigh ON to three foot long. its head came
to a sharp pint, like the how Of boat
A few inches back from the head end the
sumpin' Ih't looked like thin piece o
bone. me5be three inches high an four
or five wide, 'peared 70 raise up ou.sn the
bU: it wan tast TO the back. Runnin'
from the middle q the under edge o that
thin plate o bone, an fastened 10 il, were
Il rOun' piece o sumpin' th't looked like q
lead pencil, only 'twere bigger That dis
appeared in the worker snake right at the
shoulder. Ponty soon ven see, Pcleg,
" at that apparatus were frr
Long in the last part :" April was the
time th't this family of sargiutS got ready
Ter their seasons hatchin'. Then ye'd
see the drill snake. IN the worker snake
pickin' out their q .IIld " eli thai were
foun' (" suit 'em, the drill snake ii stiffen
hisSclf like an axe handle, give hiSSelf
spring up in the air. and come down with
lii& drill straight in the groun' and To its
fun length. As he struck, the weight Of
his head d drive the spring Of his tail end
down fiat. but in the tenth Of second it
Il fly up To its place agin. That d throw
the drill snake up in the air, an he ID sail
ahead mebbe ten foot, Wen down he'd
come agin, an 80 on. eZ long as he wanted
To. Wall, folierin' right along arter the
drill snake come the splitter snake, twisted
in her pootty letter shape She'd sail up
to the fust hole her oil man had drilled,
stop fer second, shoot her head down 10
the hole an spit an egg inter it. Then
away she Il 90 To the next hole. IfergUt 10
tell ye that she had three egg chambers
One of 'em held the egg th't Matched the
drill snake, one held the splitter snake
Eggs. an the third the worker snake eggs